Middle East Reality Check

Knowing what Israel is up against and proceeding with due caution.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Arab-Israeli conflict has nothing to do with a division of the land or the issue of Jewish settlements; it is essentially a war of civilizations.

The main Islamic powers, though in conflict among each other, are united in their pledge to liquidate or subjugate all “infidels,” Jews, Christians, Buddhist, Atheists – and even moderate Muslims – to create a worldwide Muslim Caliphate that is governed under Sharia Law.

The oil-rich Saudis would like the caliphate based upon the Wahhabi (Salafii) tradition.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which recently took over Egypt, would like the caliphate based upon the Sunni tradition.

Turkey has essentially ceased being secular and is now seeking to reassert their influence on Mideast territory which used to be the Ottoman Empire.

When we look at the development of the Middle East map following the crumbling of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, many of the modern regional countries – Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen – were created at that time.

Following the Balfour declaration in 1917 and with the consent of the League of Nations, a small percentage of Ottoman land was designated to reestablish Jewish sovereignty in their ancestral homeland.

In 1922, due to problems in the territory of Saudi Arabia, the British violated their Mandate – confiscating about 80% of the land designated for the Jewish people, to create the Hashemite Kingdom of Trans Jordan. This was in order to separate the Hashemite family from the family of Ibn Saud, which ended up controlling Saudi Arabia.

In 1937, the Peel Commission presented new proposals for a two-state solution on the remaining 20% of the land. The Jews accepted it; the Arabs rejected it.

In 1947, the United Nations again recommended a two-state solution. Again the Jews accepted it and the Arabs rejected it.

In multiple cases of a two-state solution, the Jews accepted it and the Arabs rejected it.

When the British mandate ended on May 14, 1948, the Jewish people declared independence in the State of Israel, which was recognized by the United Nations. Arab neighbors immediately invaded Israel – not with intent to create a new Arab Palestinian State, but with the intent to destroy the Jewish state.

Fast forward to more recent history. Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2005, hoping for peace. Instead, the terrorist group Hamas, which is currently ruling Gaza, has fired thousands of rockets onto the Israeli civilian population.

The Palestinian Authority, created following the Oslo accords in 1993, remains in conflict with Hamas, and governs about 95% of the Arab Palestinian population of Judea and Samaria – the West Bank of the Jordan River.

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority continue to exploit Christians and others, continue to support terrorism with global implications, continue to deny the rights of Israel to exist, continue to educate their children that Israel should be destroyed, and continue to demonize Israel across the globe.

At this juncture, giving more power to terrorists will not bring peace. It will only embolden the radicals, to continue their plan to liquidate Israel and potentially other dangerous moves against the free world.

Moving Toward Peace

Should the Arab Palestinians desire peace, they can start by:

Declaring that a peace treaty will end the conflict.

Accept that a peace treaty will end all claims.

Recognize that Israel is not occupying Arab land, but that Israel is the Jewish homeland.

Cease denying the 4,000-year-old connection between Judaism and the Land of Israel, and acknowledge Jewish rights to live on their ancestral land.

Acknowledge the experience of Jewish refugees, as well as Arab Palestinian refugees.

Most importantly, educate their children for peace, cease all forms of anti-Israel propaganda and Holocaust denial, and dismantle all terror infrastructures.

Until then, Israel must continue to act according to its good conscious, for the benefit of all people of good will.

At the end of the day, a durable peace is definitively better than a shaky pseudo-agreement.

About the Author

Dr. Shmuel Katz was born in Hungary and raised in Israel. He served as an IDF officer during the Six Day War (1967). As a doctor, he gained extensive trauma experience serving the IDF in the Yom Kippur War (1973). He is double-boarded in Surgery, a Fellow of the Israeli Surgical Society, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a member of multiple medical societies. Dr. Katz is currently a Senior VP and past Chairman of the Executive Board of the Greater Miami Hebrew Academy; is currently on the board and served as the Past President of the Greater Miami chapter of the Friends of the IDF; on the National Board of the FIDF; on the Board of Trustees of The Shul of Bal-Harbour; a member of the international board of StandWithUs; on the advisory board of PJTN; JerusalemU; and has played a key role on multiple additional advisory boards and committees in the USA and abroad.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 15

(9)
JOE,
March 15, 2013 8:39 PM

Arab-Israeli Conflict

THis is the best definition yet, that I have seen of the conflict.JOe.

(8)
Anonymous,
March 13, 2013 7:59 AM

and then what ?

After it all said and done, there is no way that an Arab and Jew can coexist. The odds of a lasting peace are 100- 0. All of the " starters " that you propose are all ' non-starters '. No Arab or Muslim will put up with a leader of peace. Ask Sadat. Ask Rabin. Ask Begin. Ask Golda. Ask Netanyahu. Obama is set to visit the Middle-East. What is not on his agenda is peace talks. What is on his agenda is Iran's nuclear weapons program.

(7)
Glenn,
March 13, 2013 12:31 AM

PEACE IN OUR TIME?

Islam, by it's very own doctrine and mind set is against anything Jewish!...They would prefer that Israel in fact did not exist, and it is toward that end that they use every means available to see this accomplished!...Lets be honest here, not every Muslim is a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Muslim, and there can be no peace for Israel as long as the extremists speak louder than the moderates!G-d's promises about restoring Israel back into a Nation has come true in our lifetime, we need to look closely at other Scripture to see into the future of His plans for this Nation!

(6)
Tim Upham,
March 12, 2013 6:06 PM

Attitude Comes Into This

What is suppose to be chic now, and defines Jewish identity, is Jewish hatred for anything Muslim. It appalls me with how simplistic and factual incorrect it is. People will say to me "How can you say that you are Jewish, if you do not hate Muslims?" Hatred of Muslims does not fall under Halachic Law, so we should not make modern politics define what it is.

Donny,
March 12, 2013 8:00 PM

@Tim

What does "hate" have to do with anything? Hate has no relevance to this article nor to your comment. It's fools like you who think because we're exposing Islamic anti-semitic world domination that we must "hate" them. That is profound stupidity. Does a weatherman "hate" the Hurricane he's warning people about?

Richard Trank,
March 12, 2013 8:40 PM

...a trees for the forest "thing"

?

Sheila Novitz,
June 28, 2014 6:05 PM

Hate has nothing to do with it.

"Hate" defines Jewish identity? Are you deranged? Your little essay is not only nonsensical; it is illiterate. What does "factual incorrect" mean? As a Jewish person, "hate" has nothing to do with my identity - but, as Donny writes, my identity encompasses trying to protect my people in every way open to me. Against every evident danger. And the Arab/Islamist desire for a caliphate, together with their documented past treatment of Jews and Christians, together with their Qur'an and Hadith, is a VERY evident danger. Please try to stop being ignorant, and acquaint yourself with the actuality of Islam by doing some reading.

(5)
Rachel,
March 12, 2013 4:49 PM

Keeping Israel as a scapegoat so they don't have to face their own people

The Saudi royal family, in particular, is perfectly happy to have Israel as a scapegoat because their society is so repressive. Keep telling the people that the "Zionists" are the source of all their problems to keep the Saudi people from demanding democracy. Looks a lot like 19th-century Russia -- blame the Jews, peasants, and leave the nobility alone. There is nothing new under the sun....

(4)
Heskel Elias,
March 12, 2013 4:42 PM

Great time line

There will never be peace. Arbs can only stay united if Israel will remain a common enemy .
Only a dictator can command the arbs. Freedoms there will never come.

Robin Rosenblatt,
March 12, 2013 9:32 PM

Islamic Cultural War

We each see a different parts of it in the world and if you put all the violent parts together it adds up to only one cause: an 1400 year old Islamic Cultural War. It is the same as that joke of four blind men touching the elephant.
It is Cultural War that means Islamic Culture must destroy Western Culture or Western Culture must destroy Islamic Culture.
It is a Genocidal War. Tactic for America, Stealth Jihad.
The book "Culture and Conflict”, explains it clearly. It shows that current cultural conditions in the Arab Middle East will not support internal development, advancement or peace until there is a major cultural change. “It is critical that we understand our enemy. That is step one in every conflict,” RR. Philip Carl Salzman, INSB # 978-1-59102-587-0.

(3)
Morris,
March 12, 2013 4:37 PM

Impossible

If we are going to expect palestinans and palestinians leadership to meet those moves towards peace, peace will never be reached. At least with them.

Dvirah,
March 13, 2013 7:53 PM

Not Impossible But Very Difficult

It takes maturity to make peace. The Palestinian Arabs are locking themselves into a culture equivalent to the psychological level of a psychotic todler. However, even among them there are isolated mature individuals. Only when those have the courage to stand up and enlighten others and lead their people toward maturity will peace be possible. But they will (and should) do so not because peace with Israel is manditory but for their own sakes - to find for themselves a better way of life. Peace with Israel will then be a beneficial side-effect of their new maturity. The impetus must come from within the Palenstinian community, be primarily for their own sakes, and it could take another milenia. Meanwhile, the only humane solution is to set and maintain limits, such as the Defensive Wall, to contain the danger they present.

(2)
shelia,
March 12, 2013 4:16 PM

anger

slleeping with one eye open makes for unrest,so does living with hostile neighbors

(1)
YR,
March 12, 2013 3:57 PM

Excuse me but their are no palestinians, they are made up

Dear Dr. Katz, your article failed to mention that the palestinians have no history. Prior to 1948, there were no palestinians only Egyptians and Jordanians. The world's biggest lie and you left it out.

Ian Derek,
March 13, 2013 5:27 AM

Unhelpful notion

Parents and grandparents of many Israelis were other things in the recent past (Polish, Moroccan, British, etc). Things change. The political awakening of Palestinian identity happened a little later than modern Zionism but is real. The "no-such-thing-as-Palestinian" line is annoying. And cowardly. No help to Israel's case.

My nephew is having his bar mitzvah and I am thinking of a gift. In the old days, the gift of choice was a fountain pen, then a Walkman, and today an iPod. But I want to get him something special. What do you suggest?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Since this event celebrates the young person becoming obligated in the commandments, the most appropriate gift is, naturally, one that gives a deeper understanding of the Jewish heritage and enables one to better perform the mitzvot! (An iPod, s/he can get anytime.)

With that in mind, my favorite gift idea is a tzedakah (charity) box. Every Jew should have a tzedakah box in his home, so he can drop in change on a regular basis. The money can then be given to support a Jewish school or institution -- in your home town or in Israel (every Jews’ “home town”). There are beautiful tzedakah boxes made of wood and silver, and you can see a selection here.

For boys, a really beautiful gift is a pair of tefillin, the black leather boxes which contain parchments of Torah verses, worn on the bicep and the head. Owning a pair of Tefillin (and wearing them!) is an important part of Jewish identity. But since they are expensive (about $400), not every Bar Mitzvah boy has a pair. To make sure you get kosher Tefillin, see here.

In 1944, the Nazis perpetrated the Children's Action in the Kovno Ghetto. That day and the next, German soldiers conducted house-to-house searches to round up all children under age 12 (and adults over 55) -- and sent them to their deaths at Fort IX. Eventually, the Germans blew up every house with grenades and dynamite, on suspicion that Jews might be in hiding in underground bunkers. They then poured gasoline over much of the former ghetto and incinerated it. Of the 37,000 Jews in Kovno before the Holocaust, less than 10 percent survived. One of the survivors was Rabbi Ephraim Oshri, who later published a stirring collection of rabbinical responsa, detailing his life-and-death decisions during the Holocaust. Also on this date, in 1937, American Jews held a massive anti-Nazi rally in New York City's Madison Square Garden.

In a letter to someone who found it difficult to study Torah, the 20th century sage the Chazon Ish wrote:

"Some people find it hard to be diligent in their Torah studies. But the difficulty persists only for a short while - if the person sincerely resolves to submerge himself in his studies. Very quickly the feelings of difficulty will go away and he will find that there is no worldly pleasure that can compare with the pleasure of studying Torah diligently."

Although actions generally have much greater impact than thoughts, thoughts may have a more serious effect in several areas.

The distance that our hands can reach is quite limited. The ears can hear from a much greater distance, and the reach of the eye is much farther yet. Thought, however, is virtually limitless in its reach. We can think of objects millions of light years away, and so we have a much greater selection of improper thoughts than of improper actions.

Thought also lacks the restraints that can deter actions. One may refrain from an improper act for fear of punishment or because of social disapproval, but the privacy of thought places it beyond these restraints.

Furthermore, thoughts create attitudes and mindsets. An improper action creates a certain amount of damage, but an improper mindset can create a multitude of improper actions. Finally, an improper mindset can numb our conscience and render us less sensitive to the effects of our actions. We therefore do not feel the guilt that would otherwise come from doing an improper act.

We may not be able to avoid the occurrence of improper impulses, but we should promptly reject them and not permit them to dwell in our mind.

Today I shall...

make special effort to avoid harboring improper thoughts.

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